In the field of circuit-interruption there is an important need for fast contact separation movement in high-power compressed-gas circuit-interrupters. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,775 by Jeffry R. Meyer and Robert L. Hess, entitled, "Improved Compressed-Gas Circuit-Interrupters of The Puffer-Type Having Improved Supporting, Shielding And Assembly Features", and assigned to the assignee of the instant patent application, for a description of a typical high-power puffer-type circuit-interrupter, which is opened by a pneumatic operating mechanism of somewhat generally similar construction and characteristics to that set forth in the instant patent application.
In other words, the instant patent application describes an improved very high-speed operating mechanism which may be substituted into the puffer-type compressed-gas circuit-interrupter of the aforesaid patent application rendering it thereby of considerably higher speed and operation, for example, reducing the opening time of the breaker from 2.43 cycles to 2.0 cycles.
The entrance of high-pressure gas, such as compressed air, for example, to the driving side of the movable driving piston of the operating mechanism of the aforesaid circuit-interrupter may be considerably improved by the improvements described herein. Closing operation is effected, for example, by the unlatching or release of a spring means, which is charged under spring tension during the opening operation. In other words, the circuit-breaker is opened by pneumatic means such as the movement of a movable driving piston and is closed, that is the separable contacts are reclosed, by a release of the previously charged closing spring means.
However, it is to be clearly understood that the improved pneumatic operating mechanism of the instant patent application may be used in a wide variety of different applications, and only one such application pertains to the circuit-interrupting art. Other applications, one of which will be described hereinafter, contemplates the application of the improved high-speed pneumatic operating mechanism of the instant patent application to a high-speed metallic-stamping structure, which may advantageously employ the high-speed pneumatic operating mechanism described in the instant patent application.